1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door locking handle assembly with a built-in combination lock of a pull-out and side-swinging lever-action type, in which a door handle is pivoted to a base body of the assembly so as to be pulled out forward and pushed back rearward relative to the base body and turned on its pivoted end.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the art, a door locking handle assembly of a conventional type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,623, herein incorporated by reference, has a construction in which: a base body of the assembly is fixedly mounted on a door; a door handle is pivoted to the base body so as to be pulled out forward and pushed back rearward relative to the base body and further turned sideward on its pivoted end after completion of its pulling-out operation; when the door handle is pulled out of the base body to assume its pulled-up or raised inclination position relative to the base body or turned sideward after completion of its pulling-out operation, a catch plate or rack which serves as a door bolt directly or indirectly connected with the door handle is released from a receiving portion of a stationary frame element (i.e., door frame for supporting a door). In this type of conventional door locking handle assembly, a cylinder lock is incorporated in either the door handle or the base body. On the other hand, the door handle is pushed back rearward relative to the base body and held in its folded or locked position in the base body.
In the conventional door locking handle assembly, an available space for mounting the assembly is extremely limited in each of opposite sides of the door to which the assembly is fixedly mounted because the interior space of a box or container for housing various instruments therein is relatively limited due to the presence of these various instruments housed therein Due to this, it is necessary to considerably limit in height the projections of the assembly in opposite directions perpendicular to the plane of the door""s surface.
In order to fulfill the above need, it is necessary to reduce in thickness the assembly as a whole by reducing in thickness the door handle and in depth the base body. However, this forces a cylinder lock of the assembly to be small in thickness.
On the other hand, in a thin-type cylinder lock, since the number of sets of disc tumblers and/or pin tumblers incorporated in the cylinder lock as components of its internal locking mechanism is small, the number of available keys of the cylinder lock is naturally limited. Due to this, in the case where there are a large number of eligible users of the instruments contained in the box provided with the door locking handle assembly which employs the cylinder lock in a condition in which these users are controlled through a computerized personal management system, it is difficult to use the conventional door locking handle assembly which employs the thin-type cylinder lock.
Although the conventional door locking handle assembly described above has been fully appreciated by users, a need exists in the art for an improved one of such door locking handle assembly, which is improved in performance.
Under such circumstances, the present invention was made. Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a door locking handle assembly, which is small in thickness as a whole and capable of providing a very large number of available keys of a combination lock incorporated in the assembly, wherein a large number of eligible persons or users of various instruments contained in a box or container provided with the door locking handle assembly are precisely controlled through a computerized personal management system.
It is possible to accomplish the above object of the present invention by providing:
In a door locking handle assembly with a built-in combination lock (19), the assembly being provided with a base body (1) which is fixedly mounted on a door (2), wherein a door handle (13) is pivoted to the base body (1) so as to be capable of being pulled out forward and pushed back rearward relative to the base body (1) and also turning sideward on a locking shaft (10) after completion of its pulling-out operation, wherein a rack (12) serving as a door bolt for the door (2) is directly or indirectly connected with the door handle (13) so as to be engaged with and disengaged from a receiving portion of a stationary frame element such as a main body of a box when the door handle (13) is pulled out forward and then turned sideward on the locking shaft (10) after completion of the pulling-out operation of the door handle (13), the rack (12) being slidably supported and guided in its up and down linear motion relative to the door (2), wherein the door (2) is swingably supported by the stationary frame element, the improvement wherein:
the combination lock (19), which is provided with a plurality of marked dial discs (22), is incorporated in the door handle (13) and opened by turning each of the marked dial discs (22) a given number of times to establish a predetermined combination of marks provided in outer peripheral surfaces of the dial discs (22);
a locking member (24) for preventing the door handle (13) from being pulled out of the base body (1) is juxtaposed with an inner surface of the door handle (13) to pass through a central portion of each of the plurality of the marked dial discs (22) of the combination lock (19);
the base body (1) is provided with a projection portion (40) in an inner peripheral surface of its lower end portion, wherein the projection portion (40) is provided with a front cam slope (42) and a rear cam slope (41) to have each of the cam slopes (42, 41) be engageable with a lower-end latch member (35) which is connected with a lower end portion of the locking member (24), wherein the rear cam slope (41) of the projection portion (40) drives the lower-end latch member (35) upward against a resilient force exerted by a spring member (27) when the door handle (13) is pulled out of the base body (1) after the combination lock (19) is unlocked; and
all the marked dial discs (22), the locking member (24) and the lower-end latch member (35) are resiliently urged downward under the influence of the resilient force exerted by the spring member (27), which permits the lower-end latch member (35) to be engaged with and disengaged from the projection portion (40) of the base body (1) when the combination lock (19) is locked and unlocked, respectively.
In the door locking handle assembly of the present invention having the above construction, a control operator of the instruments housed in the box allocates to each of a large number of eligible users or owners of these instruments a unique combination of marks of the marked dial discs of the combination lock for unlocking and locking the combination lock.
In opening a door of the box to use the instruments contained in the box, it is necessary for each of the eligible users to establish his or her own allocated unique combination of the marks by turning in a normal or a reverse direction each of the marked dial discs a given number of times, wherein the marks are provided in an outer peripheral surface of each of the dial discs.
When the allocated unique combination of the marks of the dial discs is established, the combination lock is unlocked to permit the locking member and the lower-end end latch member connected with the lower end portion of the locking member to move to their unlocked positions, so that the door handle is released from the base body, which permits the door handle is pulled out of the base body to assume its raised position.
When the door handle is then swung sideward in its raised position, the rack, which is slidably supported and guided in the door latch mechanism of the door, is moved up and down relative to the door latch mechanism and engaged with and disengaged from the receiving portion of the stationary frame element of the box, which permits the door of the box to be closed and opened, respectively.